Emily Beyda, NYU Student of Literature

I like your belt. Is it vintage? The belt is actually one that I had when I was a little kid. It was part of a cowgirl costume, and I still wear it as a little waist belt.

What are you reading? The Palm-Wine Drunkard by Amos Tutuola. It's really cool. It's one of the first great pieces of post-colonial literature. In the early Twentieth Century, colonized people decided to start telling their own stories. This is sort of a bunch of North African folktales condensed into one big novel. And it's written in a really interesting style—Dylan Thomas called it "new English." It's a combination of English and French and local dialects, written in a really idiosyncratic way.

How did you choose the book? I decided to read this because I just finished The Brothers Karmazov, which is big. The translation was amazing—by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. But I thought it would be fun to read something lighter.

Do you have any special reading habits? When I'm reading a book that I find really difficult or complicated, my strategy is to sit down and read it in big chunks. That helps me, because then you can get into the mindset of the writer.

Have you ever given up on a book? I can't! I can't give up a book halfway through. But there's one book that I haven't been able to finish. The Dave Eggers book—You Shall Know Our Velocity. He's a great writer, but I keep starting it again by accident, and I think, Damn it!